Kairos Christian Fellowship (Gracepoint – Berkeley)

Hey Everyone!

Hope you’re all doing well.  I know it’s finals time and everyone is extremely busy studying, so hang in there!  Winter break is just around the corner.  Crank in a few more hours of hard studying and you’ll be there in no time.

So…. now for a recap of last week’s Kairos bible study and Christmas gift exchange!

Last Friday, we had Bible study in our very own North Loop building.  It was a cozy time as North Loop is very well decorated around this time of year.  Rick Yi gave a stirring message on the parable of the soils.  Through the Bible study, Rick pointed out that soil represents the condition of our heart.  The good news at the end was that, no matter which soil we relate to at the moment, we can become more and more like the good soil that grows and multiples.  I was persoanlly very impacted by reflecting on the various soils and I hope all of you were too.

After the Bible study we were all pretty hungry and enjoyed some good old…. Christmas style tacos!! Well, it wasn’t really Christmas style but it was dang good and there were tons of desserts to boot.   Here’s a couple pictures of the eating portion of the night.

After eating, we had the portion of the night everyone was looking forward to… The Gift Exchange! We split up into teams by birthday month and started off with a Pictionary game to see who would get some special abilities.

After Pictionary we had an intense Jenga match to see which team would go first!

With the formalities decided we finally began the epic 2009 Kairos Winter Christmas Party Gift Exchange!!!!
As you can see, some people got great gifts….

While others got not so great gifts….

We also had some surprise performances!

Overall it was an awesome night so I hope everyone had as great a time as I did! That’s all for now. Study hard and good luck on finals everyone!

This past Saturday Kairos had an awesome time in Monterey (about 2 hours south of Berkeley).  For those of you who weren’t there, you missed out!  But don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of trips like this!

We kicked off the day with an awesome lunch at In ‘n Out.  I don’t think you can ever get tired of this place.  Myself, I had the standard cheeseburger (whole grilled onions, extra lettuce/tomatoes), fries and a strawberry shake.  Yum!  As is usually the case with our church, we totally took over the place!

After filling up with burgers and fries, we all piled into our cars before we knew it we arrived in Monterey.  We split up into two groups, one group went biking while the other group played sports on the beach.  Biking along 17 Mile Drive was breathtakingly beautiful.  Even though we only were able to ride for a few miles, it was nonetheless still really pretty.

One of these days, I think a day trip is in order just to bike the entire 17 Mile Drive.  Who wants to come with?

Back at the beach, a confrontation was brewing.  Yes you guessed it, we had another round of Staff vs. Students in a game we’ll call Ultimate Frisbee+Football!  This is a game some of the Kairos guys first played back at Berkeley.  I must say, the football adds a new dimension to an already awesome sport.  It’s okay students, you have years to hone your skills and challenge your friendly ‘ol staff again!

With the sun about to set, we moved to Carmel Beach and had a bonfire!  We also fired up those nifty on-the-go grills and had hot links, pineapple sausages, vegetable packs and banana boats galore!

Warning: Do not read this post on an empty stomach.

Last Tuesday night, October 20th, the sophomore sisters had a fun-filled baking night at Dana House. Working at a huge table strewn with measuring cups, mixing bowls, and various ingredients, from phyllo dough to rice vinegar, we made fruit tarts, red velvet cupcakes, and pumpkin mochi from scratch. While we all had different levels of baking experience, it was entertaining to just figure out the recipes together (for the red velvet cupcakes, we had to convert ounces into cups…ummm…) and see how they turned out in the end.

After all the desserts were baked and decorated, we all sat around the Korean tea table to eat them! While they were all amazingly delicious, we were able to award each of them with its own separate title:

1) Tastiest: Pumpkin Mochi. The pumpkin mochi was perfect: warm, crispy around the edges, and soft and gooey on the inside. Most of us admitted to having three or four, though there were still enough left over to bring home “to our roommates”.

2) Prettiest: Fruit Tarts. After filling phyllo dough with a rich blend of cream cheese, whipped cream, and vanilla, we adorned them with berries, drizzled the top with melted chocolate, and sprinkled powdered sugar on as a finishing touch. Though they were easy to make, the finished products seriously looked as if they had come from a professional caterer or five-star restaurant.

3) Bloodiest?: Red Velvet Cupcakes. These cocoa-flavored cupcakes were very…red. Though we could spread cream cheese frosting on top, the whiteness could still not subdue their vivid color. Nevertheless, they were quite scrumptious (their appearance, not their taste, reflected this award).

Overall, it was really refreshing to just take a break from midterm-studying and our own stressful schedules and just spend a few hours talking, building our relationships with one another, and creating beautiful things together. We were also encouraged to bring our friends and roommates, so it was fun meeting some new people as well. What better way to bond than through measurement conversions and delicious food? Can’t wait till our next baking night!

Face off

So last friday night, October 16th, 2009, Kairos and A2F came together for another memorable RSF Night. The arenas of competition included handball, musical basketball, and the never-before-seen capture the frisbee and tennis ball.

Juniors were clearly seen as the favorites to win yet another sports event, and they indeed prove to be in solid form. But the finale of the night, the ULTIMATE brave-heart, in which all classes clashed at once, that snatched victory from the juniors’ grasp. As the juniors were dominating the last event as well, all of a sudden in the middle of the game, 10 additional staff jumped into the battle to aid the freshmen, who actually outnumbered all other classes at the beginning. Experienced staff hunted down the easily visible yellow shirted juniors and took them out one by one.

But in the end, it was neither the juniors nor the freshmen who came out on top. Grey shirted sophomores strategically remained noiseless, avoiding any kind of confrontation throughout the game, and ended up with the most survivors. So the sophomores took the 1st place, followed by the juniors and the freshmen. But no matter who the victor was, I think all of us had a good time of bonding, not just with those we know, but also with new faces from different ministry. Class pride aside, I always feel blessed to have the opportunity to share such an experience as the RSF Night with so many brothers and sisters. But definitely, I doubt there will be another upset in the next sports night.

Freshmen - size of an army

(Temporarily) Victorious Sophomores

Mighty juniors

Senior power

Last Friday, Kairos had its long-awaited Photo Scavenger Hunt all over the UC Berkeley Campus! After a Bible study from Daniel Kim about the parables of the lost and found in Luke 15, we broke up into ten teams and branched out across campus to find different distinctive spots and features of Berkeley. Afterward, we shared all of our videos and pictures, and here are some exceptional ones (in various ways).

Team 9

Fiscal power at Haas

Fiscal power redefined

Some desperate campus squirrels

The best shot of the campanile (it's harder than it looks)

Team 7 rocking out

A tribute to Cal football

Reflections at the pool

Team 8

Team 5

Videos of the Night

Team 8’s The Play in slo-mo!!!

Team 10’s famous historical moment (see if you can identify it =D):

Team 3’s protest on Sproul Plaza (this is Berkeley after all)

Team 5’s Shakespeare in Unit 1

This last weekend the Kairos brothers got a chance to visit our church’s Sierra Retreat property.  Though we spent less than 24 total hours at the property we had a packed trip.  After an awesome Bible study from John Lee about “Why Am I so Lonely?” the guys hopped in a bunch of vans and headed over to the Sierras.  We arrived at just about midnight and you could feel excitement in the air as this was the first trip to our Sierra Retreat for all the frosh guys.

After exploring the lodge and getting settled in the bros split up into a couple groups.  One group headed outside to play basketball on our outdoor lit court.  We had a class battle in which each class created a 4 man team.  It was actually the juniors who went undefeated (They beat a weakened staff team).  Afterward we had a 5 on 5 tournament with the best of the undergrads vs. 5 staff.  Needless to stay, the staff picked up their game and won 2 games against a student team that battled pretty hard.   The other group decided to stay indoors to play some awesome games such as Dominion, Pandemic, Bang, and Mad Gab.  On top of all of this we had some late night ramen with egg.  Everyone had an awesome time and at around 3:15 AM we started to wrap things up as people were getting tired.

The next day we woke up and the juniors prepared an excellent breakfast for all the brothers.  We had a good DT reading in Exodus and after that we went on a Sierra Retreat tour.

We then went on a really beautiful hike around the local area and a bunch of brothers walked through a freezing cold stream.  After the hike it was free time.  Some brothers were studying hard while others were playing football on our brand new field, shooting arrows at the archery range, taking naps, and playing more ball.

Rite of passage

The frosh class

Around 5 PM when the Cal vs. USC game started we had some super tasty burgers, hot links, and chili.  Unfortunately, the game wasn’t as awesome as the food as we ended up losing pretty badly.

But overall, all of us were quite thankful that we got a chance to go to our Sierra Retreat despite the disappointing  Cal game.  Can’t wait til next time when we go on our snow trip!  Be ready for a snow war and tons of fun!

Snow: great way to end the trip

This past Sunday was Baptism Sunday! From Kairos, Kevin Tan, Mike Park, Angel Lam, and I publicly professed our faith and celebrated our salvation with a total of 39 candidates. Praise God for so many people’s desire to proclaim and honor His work in our lives!

The true blessing about the baptism ceremony was being able to celebrate this day with a devoted community. My leaders and peers showered me with such an abundance of love, with joyful congratulations and hugs. I was reminded once again that throughout these past two years at Gracepoint, I could not have gotten this far without them, their support, their accountability, and their genuine love.

I no longer have to be insecure because of my flaws and inadequacies—God has truly provided a place where I can find contentment in who I am and how I lead my life. I will definitely be looking back on this day to keep me strong in times of doubt and to remember my commitment to our Lord. Thank You, God!

This is a story of how Christ changed our lives

Angel and I celebrate with our LIFEgroup!

Kevin receives the classic gift from Ryan--a fruit.

Mike with his Life Group

Mike and Steve cannot contain their joy!

Our Kairos group picture